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I was SOOOOOO hoping Pierre was going to get this.

As far as I'm concerned Howard needs to prove that he can be number one again next year. Sure he was lights out this year, but when the summer is over its a whole new season and his stats from a year before mean jack. Fortunately this is also the case for Osgood. This year he sucked balls, but its not "this year" anymore an he has an opportunity to steal number 1 back, if for the last time in his career. This is the mindset that Babs needs to instill in Ozzie as well as in Howie, and to do that, I think for the starting stretch of the season, Babs should split starts right down the middle. If one goalie starts sucking, skew the start % to 60-40, or 70-30. If they both play well, keep the competition going. They don't get a free ride to number 1 and that's the way it should be.

Somebody likes exaggerating! Good for Leino for starting to get his game together in Philadelphia on a consistent basis. Thankfully nobody has said, at least yet, that we should've kept him after the fact that he has done better. Pretty easy to say stuff like that after it happened. Bottom line is with the Wings, he barely did anything and I don't regret him leaving. I wish him nothing but the best in Philly or elsewhere.

me too! just so we don't have to stare at his penis head every time nbc airs a game.

The whole idea of a cap is ridiculous in the first place. A luxury tax would be better than what we currently have, but it's not a solution. Basically, teams should be able to spend what ever they want. Big market teams should not be penalized because hockey is a big deal in their cities. If a team has a rabid fan base, and can dish out tens of millions more than their competition then they should be able to do so.

I guess its amazing what playing along all those "soft Euros" like Mule, Homer, Lids, Z, and Dats can do for Eaves' and Miller's confidence. Or perhaps Leino, like a whole lot of players, may play well with a change of venue or the offense of being the odd man out and shipped to another team. :hysterical:

Figured this would come up the next time the Wings lost a playoff series. A luxury tax system is nice, but it still encourages more spending. Teams had proven when there was no system in place to curb their spending that they would spend themselves into bankruptcy to try and be competitive as far as having superstars and getting (at very least) into the playoffs is concerned. A luxury tax would, despite the "sharing" of tax revenues of those over a designated cap, still encourage reckless spending and thus pit the NHL into the same problem it had pre-cap era. This is without foresight at all, and imo it's just a way to get the Wings out of a cap system so they can spend a lot more money and buy a lot more superstars again so we can see another roster like that of 2002.

After watching the game yesterday I have no doubt that the Sharks are going to get their way with calls for the rest of the playoffs. They played well against us and probably deserved to win either way, but for everyone who isn't a Sharks fan, if San Jose wins the Cup this year the victory will be somewhat tainted by the questionable officiating they received throughout their run.

there is a limit to 1 coach per staff with a name ending in cock.

I know im gonna get flamed for this but.. Come on people Howard needs a capable backup goalie! Osgood was HORRIBLE this past season so much so that Howard was starting every freaking game! We need a capable backup who can at least give Howie some rest! Now maybe I will be wrong next season and I think were stuck with Ozzie for 1 more year? Osgood might play descent or good next year to give our kid some rest but yeesh.. i know Ozzie probably deserves another year but please play descent to give Howie some rest or release him and pick up a capable backup!! I know some members here think Osgood has superhuman powers of verbal awesomeness and random veteran cup winning savvy of the greek gods that inspire and make Howard play insane but I just don't buy it.

Oh and Ericsson had the primary assist on Sweden`s game winning goal against Canada today.

He`s Bob ******* Probert compared to 95% of the players on this team. Who else is willing to fight? Eaves, Lilja and Abdelkader. Miller maybe. Honestly, where did you get the impression a guy who is willing to drop the gloves is a ***** on today`s Wings?

Detroit goes undefeated, winning every game in OT. 82 points. Chicago wins 41 games in regulation and one in OT, and loses 40. 83 points. Which team is better? Systems where points awarded in each game are not the same from game to game are epic fail because they provide extra points that suddenly appear, or in your case remove points. If you want a simple W/L system, just use a simple W/L system and discard points altogether.

I know Babcock and Ozzie had a little tiff during this season. But hopefully both sides will let bygones be bygones heading into training camp and throughout next season. But let's take a stroll down memory lane; Since Babcock became the Red Wings coach: 2005-06: Legace--49 Starts Osgood--29 Starts Howard--4 Starts Final Record: (58-16-8---124 Pts) Playoff Result: L-WCQ to EDM 4-2 2006-07: Hasek--56 Starts Osgood--19 Starts ???--7 Starts Final Record: (50-19-13---113 Pts) Playoff Result: L-WCF to ANA 4-2 2007-08: Hasek--40 Starts Osgood--40 Starts Howard--2 Starts Final Record: (54-21-7---115 Pts) Playoff Result: Won Stanley Cup 2008-09: Osgood--44 Starts Conklin--37 Starts Howard--1 Start Final Record: (51-21-10---112 Pts) Playoff Result: L-SCF to PIT 4-3 2009-10: Howard--61 Starts Osgood--21 Starts Final Record: (44-24-14---102 Pts) Playoff Result: L-WCS to SJS 4-1 Notice the difference between 2007-08, when the Wings won the Cup and the other four seasons. Both Ozzie and Dom played 40 games each, leaving both rested for the playoffs. Now we all know the story of how Dom was pulled in game three in the quarterfinal against Nashville and Ozzie led the Wings back to glory. But this isn't 2007-08 anymore. It's 2010-11, and the season begins October 6th. But why wouldn't any coach use the same method that won the Cup a few years earlier? That's not saying Mike Babcock is a bad coach, in fact, in my opinion, he's the best coach in the game today. But heading into 2010-11, I think Coach Babcock should go with the philosophy of platooning his goaltenders the same way he did back in 2007-08. I think Jimmy was just tired against San Jose. He played so much hockey, more than his body was used to, more than his body could take. Now is it better for the future, time will tell. But Ozzie and Jimmy should be within five starts of each other at regular season's end next April, and the Wings may be hoisting Lord Stanley again next June.

The list of rookie d-men who were disappointing in their first season is as long as it is predictable. Ericsson will never be Lidstrom so it was absurd for anyone to think he`d step in as a rookie and dominate. In the NHL you expect first year defensemen to flub the puck-- it takes years for NHL d-men to gain the kind of poise we demand from our 3rd pairing in Detroit. People pretend it wasn`t like that for Kronwall, Fischer, or any of the other non sucky d-men we`ve seen emerge here since the golden years of Vladdy and Lidstrom but those are the facts. Hell, look at Hall Gill-- he blows donkey dicks but he`s massive and in the playoffs he`s managed to learn how to turn size without skill into shutting down Crosby. Ericsson may not have Gill`s size but at least he can skate well for a guy his size. In a few years when Ericsson`s got his game nailed down and is playing with confidence most of the people here will pretend they loved him from the start (just like we saw with Kronwall-- anyone remember the rage on here when he got his big contract? The board was pretty split on him back then). In the end I won`t be shocked when Ericsson`s game evens out and he`s a valuable member of the back end because this is what almost always happens with young d-men who come into the NHL.

Janik can do everything that Lilja can do.The only thing Janik can't do as well as Lilja is get his ass kicked.

Booth for Ericsson?!

Lol.

82 osgood hes way better than choker howard

50/50 then see who's better. Also none of this not playing osgood for a whole month at a time. That's insane and never gives him a shot to rebound.

Roy with Colorado really was great. His performance in Colorado was much better than his performance in Montreal. Osgood in Detroit has performed just as well if not better in the postseason as Roy did in Montreal. Roy in Colorado stepped his game up from where it was in Montreal. It would be like seeing Osgood play the 11 playoffs, and make his play in the 08 and 09 playoffs look like his 09-10 regular season. That was the difference in his play.

The main problem is the imbalance between the conferences, and the fact that the three-point game exists in its current fashion. Change the point system to: 3 points for a win in regulation or OT 2 points for a win in a SO 1 point for SO loss 0 points for regulation/OT loss Follow this up with: Each division winner is guaranteed a top-8 seed and therefore first-round home-ice in the playoffs. The playoffs are seeded 1-16 by points. For example, the top three teams could all come from one division if that's how the points rolled, as there are two "wild-card" spots which get first-round home ice. Teams are re-seeded each round based on seed (division sinners retain their playoff seed) as the playoffs progress. This would provide for a fairer playoff system as the best teams would be in, regardless of division or conference. Think about it. These would have been the first-round matchups: (1) Washington vs. (16) Calgary (2) San Jose vs. (15) St. Louis (3) Chicago vs. (14) Boston (4) Phoenix vs. (13) Ottawa (5) Vancouver vs. (12) Colorado (6) New Jersey vs. (11) Nashville (7) Detroit vs. (10) Los Angeles (8) Buffalo vs. (9) Pittsburgh Likely leading to: (1) Washington vs. (9) Pittsburgh (OH SNAP!) (2) San Jose vs. (7) Detroit (3) Chicago vs. (6) New Jersey (4) Phoenix vs. (5) Vancouver (1) Washington vs. (5) Vancouver (2) San Jose vs. (3) Chicago (1) Washington vs. (3) Chicago And Chicago wins the Cup. They'll win it this year anyway, just over a different opponent.

You probably will get flamed, but your post is the most coherent one I've read. The others are in denial or fantasy land. I'd be really surprised if Osgood got more than 10-15 starts. The central is so tough now. Unless we get off to a really great start, we're going to be scratching for every point again.

This is all Crosby's fault.

A luxury tax system might be better than the current hard cap. It might not. But let's take a look at one possibility: Luxury tax: Use existing method for determining cap ceiling. Teams pay equal into revenue sharing pool what they exceed cap by. This revenue sharing is divided equally among existing revenue-sharing eligible teams who pay less than the "tax line" (halfway between cap max and floor, or $8m below cap max) while any revenue sharing teams who spend above that line do not receive from this pool. Teams can choose to spend as much or as little as they wish on salaries. A team could have a total payroll of $11.025m by having 21 players making the league minimum (as of next season I believe) of $525k if it chose to do so.